Description: The Smithsonian Folklife Festival will be held from June 30 to July 4 and July 7 to 11, 2011 on the National Mall. Read more about the history of the Folklife Festival here. At the Smithsonian Folklife Festival this year, the Peace Corps is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an Executive Order authorizing the Peace Corps to
Description: Oral history interviews sometimes reveal the central role that a mentor can play in the life of a young person, changing the road taken in that person’s life.
Description: Although initially skeptical about the effectiveness of the hypsometer, Secretary Joseph Henry soon recognized the value of the instrument, which he discovered from his colleagues in the scientific field.
Description: Link Love: a weekly post with links to interesting videos and stories about archival issues, technology and culture, and Washington D.C. and American history.
Description: Elaine R.S. Hodges, scientific illustrator at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, 1965–1996, made drawings of insects and other organisms that were frequently used by Smithsonian scientists. She was a founder of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and edited the Guild Handbook of Scientific Illustration (1989). #Groundbreaker